THE VIDEO CAN BE SHOWN AT YOUR CHURCHES AS IT IS MORE THAN RELEVANT TO THE LESSONS. BE PATIENT AND WAIT TO UNDERSTAND ALL THE DIFFERENT ASPECTS AND ALL THE CONNECTIONS IN ORDER TO APPRECIATE THE POWER AND THE ATTENTION OF GOD, APART FROM THE EXTRAORDINARY IMAGES.

Click on the video at the bottom right for a totally enlarged screen, and connect the sound to powerful headphones and/or quality speakers. Find a Good Time, Be Amazed and Enjoy the Inspiration...PLEASE SHOW THIS VIDEO AT YOUR CHURCHES ON SABBATH AFTERNOON, BELIEVE ME IT WILL BE A HIT. SURELY IT WILL HAVE A BLESSED EFFECT ON THE SPIRITUALITY OF THE CHURCH.  MAY GOD BLESS YOU EVEN MORE AND KEEP YOU IN A FRUITFUL FAITH IN HIM.

 

 

2nd trimester 2013 THE MINOR PROPHETS

April 6-12 2013, Love and Judgment: God’s Dilemma (Hosea)


Sabbath Afternoon

 

Memory Text: “But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always” (Hosea 12:6, NIV).

 

Key Thought: Hosea reveals more of God’s love for His wayward people.

 

 

Sunday April 7 2013,  Easily Deceived and Senseless

“‘Ephraim is like a dove, easily deceived and senseless—now calling to Egypt, now turning to Assyria. When they go, I will throw my net over them; I will pull them down like birds of the air. When I hear them flocking together, I will catch them’” (Hos. 7:11-12, NIV).

...Why? Because an alliance with the mighty Assyrian Empire or ambitious Egypt would require Israel to recognize the supremacy of the gods worshiped by those two superpowers (see also Isa. 52:4, Lam. 5:1-6). Going to them would mean, of necessity, turning away from the Lord. What they needed to do was return to the Lord, repent, obey His commandments, and put away their false gods. That was their only hope, not political alliances with pagans.

“The very position of Palestine exposed it to invasion by these two ancient empires. . . . The much-coveted prize for which these powerful empires fought was this highway that connected the rich watersheds of the Nile and the Euphrates. The kingdoms of Israel and Judah were caught in this international counter play and squeezed between the two rivals. In desperation, without spiritual trust in her God, Israel fatuously appealed first to the one and then to the other for a support that could only turn into a snare to her own national well-being.”—The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 4, p. 908.

It is so easy to seek human aid for our problems instead of seeking the Lord, is it not? Of course, the Lord can use human agents in answer to our prayers. How can we be sure that, in desperate situations and in need of help, we do not make the same mistake that Israel did here? How can we use human aid without, of necessity, turning away from the Lord?

 

 

Monday April 8 2013,  A Trained Heifer

Hosea 10:11–13

11 Ephraim is na trained heifer

That loves to thresh grain;

But I harnessed her fair neck,

I will make Ephraim 8pull a plow.

Judah shall plow;

Jacob shall break his clods.”

12 Sow for yourselves righteousness;

Reap in mercy;

oBreak up your fallow ground,

For it is time to seek the Lord,

Till He pcomes and rains righteousness on you.

13 qYou have plowed wickedness;

You have reaped iniquity.

You have eaten the fruit of lies,

Because you trusted in your own way,

In the multitude of your mighty men.

 

Jeremiah 50:11

11 “Because wyou were glad, because you rejoiced,

You destroyers of My heritage,

Because you have grown fat xlike a heifer threshing grain,

And you 6bellow like bulls,

 

2 Samuel 24:22

22 Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take whatever he wishes and offer it up. Here are oxenn for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood.

 

1 Kings 19:19

Elisha Follows Elijah

19 So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his xmantle on him.

 

Jeremiah 4:3

3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

f“Break up your 2fallow ground,

And gdo not sow among thorns.

 

Hosea 10:12

12 Sow for yourselves righteousness;

Reap in mercy;

oBreak up your fallow ground,

For it is time to seek the Lord,

Till He pcomes and rains righteousness on you.

 

Hosea 2:19

19 “I will betroth you to Me forever;

Yes, I will betroth you to Me

In righteousness and justice,

In lovingkindness and mercy;

 

Hosea 14:5–7

5 I will be like the hdew to Israel;

He shall 2grow like the lily,

And 3lengthen his roots like Lebanon.

6 His branches shall 4spread;

iHis beauty shall be like an olive tree,

And jhis fragrance like Lebanon.

7 kThose who dwell under his shadow shall return;

They shall be revived like grain,

And 5grow like a vine.

Their 6scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

 

Matthew 11:28–30

28 Come to cMe, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you dand learn from Me, for I am 6gentle and elowly in heart, fand you will find rest for your souls. 30 gFor My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

 

In Hosea 10:12 the prophet presents what the Lord desires Israel to be through obedience to His word. Righteousness and steadfast love are the gifts promised by God to His wife when the covenant is renewed (Hos. 2:19). If people sow righteousness, they will reap kindness in return. Only by searching for the Lord and His will can Israel be delivered from the coming punishment. The door of mercy is still open for possible repentance on the part of God’s chosen people.

The admonition to sow righteousness concerns people-to-people relationships; the search for God concerns the relation between God and His people. The breaking up of the soil represents spiritual and social reform and renewal. The Lord and His people will work together in a mutual relationship to bring blessings back to the land. The results will be a glorious blossoming that will fill the whole earth (Hos. 14:5-7).

Tuesday April 9,   A Toddling Son

Hosea 11:1–3

God’s Continuing Love for Israel

11 “When Israel was a 1child, I loved him,

And out of Egypt aI called My bson.

2 2As they called them,

So they cwent 3from them;

They sacrificed to the Baals,

And burned incense to carved images.

3 “I dtaught Ephraim to walk,

Taking them by 4their arms;

But they did not know that eI healed them.

 

Deuteronomy 8:5

5 jYou should 4know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you.

Proverbs 13:24

24 uHe who spares his rod hates his son,

But he who loves him disciplines him 5promptly.

 

Hebrews 12:6

6 For kwhom the Lord loves He chastens,

And scourges every son whom He receives.”

Revelation 3:19

19 qAs many as I love, I rebuke and rchasten. 3Therefore be 4zealous and repent.

Exodus 4:22–23

22 Then you shall asay to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: b“Israel is My son, cMy firstborn. 23 So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed dI will kill your son, your firstborn.” ’ ”

 

Deuteronomy 1:31    

31 and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carriedt you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”u

Deuteronomy 8:5

5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.e

 

...God, who loves and forgives, is the heart of Hosea’s message. Even when He applies discipline, He is deeply compassionate. His anger can be terrifying, but His mercy is beyond comprehension...

 

...Although all the nations of the earth, including Egypt, were God’s sons and daughters, the Hebrew nation was selected to be God’s firstborn son with special privileges. But along with those privileges came responsibilities...

 

...“All who in this world render true service to God or man receive a preparatory training in the school of sorrow. The weightier the trust and the higher the service, the closer is the test and the more severe the discipline.”—Ellen G. White, Education, p. 151...


Wednesday April 10, Compassion Stronger Than Anger

Hosea 11:8–9    

8 aHow can I give you up, O Ephraim?

How can I surrender you, O Israel?

How can I 1make you like bAdmah?

How can I treat you like bZeboiim?

My heart is turned over within Me,

2All My compassions are kindled.

9 I will anot execute My fierce anger;

I will not destroy Ephraim bagain.

For cI am God and not man, the dHoly One in your midst,

And I will not come in 1wrath.

 

Deuteronomy 21:18–21    

The Rebellious Son

18 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. 20 And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; pso you shall put away the evil from among you, qand all Israel shall hear and fear.

Genesis 19:17–23

17 So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that 2he said, a“Escape for your life! bDo not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape cto the mountains, lest you be 3destroyed.”

18 Then Lot said to them, “Please, dno, my lords! 19 Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. 20 See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.”

21 And he said to him, “See, eI have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. 22 Hurry, escape there. For fI cannot do anything until you arrive there.”

Therefore gthe name of the city was called 4Zoar.

23 The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar.

 

Genesis 14:8

8 And the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and joined together in battle in the Valley of Siddim

 

Deuteronomy 29:23

23 ‘The whole land is brimstone, esalt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, flike the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’

 

Hosea 11:1–12

God’s Continuing Love for Israel

11 “When Israel was a 1child, I loved him,

And out of Egypt aI called My bson.

2 2As they called them,

So they cwent 3from them;

They sacrificed to the Baals,

And burned incense to carved images.

3 “I dtaught Ephraim to walk,

Taking them by 4their arms;

But they did not know that eI healed them.

4 I drew them with 5gentle cords,

With bands of love,

And fI was to them as those who take the yoke from their 6neck.

gI stooped and fed them.

5 “He shall not return to the land of Egypt;

But the Assyrian shall be his king,

Because they refused to repent.

6 And the sword shall slash in his cities,

Devour his districts,

And consume them,

Because of their own counsels.

7 My people are bent on hbacksliding from Me.

Though 7they call 8to the Most High,

None at all exalt Him.

8 “How ican I give you up, Ephraim?

How can I hand you over, Israel?

How can I make you like jAdmah?

How can I set you like Zeboiim?

My heart 9churns within Me;

My sympathy is stirred.

9 I will not execute the fierceness of My anger;

I will not again destroy Ephraim.

kFor I am God, and not man,

The Holy One in your midst;

And I will not 1come with terror.

10 “They shall walk after the Lord.

lHe will roar like a lion.

When He roars,

Then His sons shall come trembling from the west;

11 They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt,

mLike a dove from the land of Assyria.

nAnd I will let them dwell in their houses,”

Says the Lord.

God’s Charge Against Ephraim

12 “Ephraim has encircled Me with lies,

And the house of Israel with deceit;

But Judah still walks with God,

Even with the 2Holy One who is faithful.

Romans 5:8    

8 But lGod demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

1 Peter 2:24

24 bwho Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, cthat we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness— dby whose 7stripes you were healed.

 

Galatians 3:13

13 mChrist has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, n“Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),




Thursday April 11 Healed, Loved, and Nurtured

Hosea 14:1–9

Israel Restored at Last

14 O Israel, areturn to the Lord your God,

For you have stumbled because of your iniquity;

2 Take words with you,

And return to the Lord.

Say to Him,

“Take away all iniquity;

Receive us graciously,

For we will offer the bsacrifices 1of our lips.

3 Assyria shall cnot save us,

dWe will not ride on horses,

Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’

eFor in You the fatherless finds mercy.”

4 “I will heal their fbacksliding,

I will glove them freely,

For My anger has turned away from him.

5 I will be like the hdew to Israel;

He shall 2grow like the lily,

And 3lengthen his roots like Lebanon.

6 His branches shall 4spread;

iHis beauty shall be like an olive tree,

And jhis fragrance like Lebanon.

7 kThose who dwell under his shadow shall return;

They shall be revived like grain,

And 5grow like a vine.

Their 6scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

8 “Ephraim shall say, ‘What have I to do anymore with idols?’

I have heard and observed him.

I am like a green cypress tree;

lYour fruit is found in Me.”

9 Who is wise?

Let him understand these things.

Who is prudent?

Let him know them.

For mthe ways of the Lord are right;

The righteous walk in them,

But transgressors stumble in them.

Exodus 23:15

15 sYou shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; tnone shall appear before Me empty);

1 Kings 6:9–10

9 hSo he built the 2temple and finished it, and he paneled the temple with beams and boards of cedar. 10 And he built side chambers against the entire temple, each five cubits high; they were attached to the temple with cedar beams.

 

Hosea 7:1–14:9

7 “When I would have healed Israel,

Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered,

And the wickedness of Samaria.

For athey have committed fraud;

A thief comes in;

A band of robbers 1takes spoil outside.

2 They 2do not consider in their hearts

That bI remember all their wickedness;

Now their own deeds have surrounded them;

They are before My face.

3 They make a cking glad with their wickedness,

And princes dwith their lies.

4 “They eare all adulterers.

Like an oven heated by a baker—

He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough,

Until it is leavened.

5 In the day of our king

Princes have made him sick, 3inflamed with fwine;

He stretched out his hand with scoffers.

6 They prepare their heart like an oven,

While they lie in wait;

4Their baker sleeps all night;

In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.

7 They are all hot, like an oven,

And have devoured their judges;

All their kings have fallen.

gNone among them calls upon Me.

8 “Ephraim hhas mixed himself among the peoples;

Ephraim is a cake unturned.

9 iAliens have devoured his strength,

But he does not know it;

Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him,

Yet he does not know it.

10 And the jpride of Israel testifies to his face,

But kthey do not return to the Lord their God,

Nor seek Him for all this.

Futile Reliance on the Nations

11 “Ephraim lalso is like a silly dove, without 5sense—

mThey call to Egypt,

They go to nAssyria.

12 Wherever they go, I will ospread My net on them;

I will bring them down like birds of the air;

I will chastise them

pAccording to what their congregation has heard.

13 “Woe to them, for they have fled from Me!

Destruction to them,

Because they have transgressed against Me!

Though qI redeemed them,

Yet they have spoken lies against Me.

14 rThey did not cry out to Me with their heart

When they wailed upon their beds.

“They 6assemble together for grain and new swine,

7They rebel against Me;

15 Though I disciplined and strengthened their arms,

Yet they devise evil against Me;

16 They return, but not 8to the Most High;

tThey are like a treacherous bow.

Their princes shall fall by the sword

For the ucursings of their tongue.

This shall be their derision vin the land of Egypt.

The Apostasy of Israel

8 “Set the 1trumpet to your mouth!

He shall come alike an eagle against the house of the Lord,

Because they have transgressed My covenant

And rebelled against My law.

2 bIsrael will cry to Me,

‘My God, cwe know You!’

3 Israel has rejected the good;

The enemy will pursue him.

4 “They dset up kings, but not by Me;

They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them.

From their silver and gold

They made idols for themselves—

That they might be cut off.

5 Your 2calf 3is rejected, O Samaria!

My anger is aroused against them—

eHow long until they attain to innocence?

6 For from Israel is even this:

A fworkman made it, and it is not God;

But the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.

7 “They gsow the wind,

And reap the whirlwind.

The stalk has no bud;

It shall never produce meal.

If it should produce,

hAliens would swallow it up.

8 iIsrael is swallowed up;

Now they are among the Gentiles

jLike a vessel in which is no pleasure.

9 For they have gone up to Assyria,

Like ka wild donkey alone by itself;

Ephraim lhas hired lovers.

10 Yes, though they have hired among the nations,

Now mI will gather them;

And they shall 4sorrow a little,

Because of the 5burden of nthe king of princes.

11 “Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin,

They have become for him altars for sinning.

12 I have written for him othe great things of My law,

But they were considered a strange thing.

13 For the sacrifices of My offerings pthey sacrifice flesh and eat it,

qBut the Lord does not accept them.

rNow He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.

They shall return to Egypt.

14 “For sIsrael has forgotten this Maker,

And has built 6temples;

Judah also has multiplied ufortified cities;

But vI will send fire upon his cities,

And it shall devour his 7palaces.”

Judgment of Israel’s Sin

9 Do anot rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples,

For you have played the harlot against your God.

You have made love for bhire on every threshing floor.

2 The threshing floor and the winepress

Shall not feed them,

And the new wine shall fail in her.

3 They shall not dwell in cthe Lord’s land,

dBut Ephraim shall return to Egypt,

And eshall eat unclean things in Assyria.

4 They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord,

Nor fshall their gsacrifices be pleasing to Him.

It shall be like bread of mourners to them;

All who eat it shall be defiled.

For their bread shall be for their own life;

It shall not come into the house of the Lord.

5 What will you do in the appointed day,

And in the day of the feast of the Lord?

6 For indeed they are gone because of destruction.

Egypt shall gather them up;

Memphis shall bury them.

hNettles shall possess their valuables of silver;

Thorns shall be in their tents.

7 The idays of punishment have come;

The days of recompense have come.

Israel knows!

The prophet is a jfool,

kThe spiritual man is insane,

Because of the greatness of your iniquity and great enmity.

8 The lwatchman of Ephraim is with my God;

But the prophet is a 1fowler’s snare in all his ways—

Enmity in the house of his God.

9 mThey are deeply corrupted,

As in the days of nGibeah.

He will remember their iniquity;

He will punish their sins.

10 “I found Israel

Like grapes in the owilderness;

I saw your fathers

As the pfirstfruits on the fig tree in its first season.

But they went to qBaal Peor,

And 2separated themselves to that shame;

rThey became an abomination like the thing they loved.

11 As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird—

No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!

12 Though they bring up their children,

Yet I will bereave them to the last man.

Yes, swoe to them when I depart from them!

13 Just tas I saw Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place,

So Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer.”

14 Give them, O Lord—

What will You give?

Give them ua miscarrying womb

And dry breasts!

15 “All their wickedness is in vGilgal,

For there I hated them.

Because of the evil of their deeds

I will drive them from My house;

I will love them no more.

wAll their princes are rebellious.

16 Ephraim is xstricken,

Their root is dried up;

They shall bear no fruit.

Yes, were they to bear children,

I would kill the darlings of their womb.”

17 My God will ycast them away,

Because they did not obey Him;

And they shall be zwanderers among the nations.

Israel’s Sin and Captivity

10 Israel aempties his vine;

He brings forth fruit for himself.

According to the multitude of his fruit

bHe has increased the altars;

According to the bounty of his land

They have embellished his sacred pillars.

2 Their heart is cdivided; 1

Now they are held guilty.

He will break down their altars;

He will ruin their sacred pillars.

3 For now they say,

“We have no king,

Because we did not fear the Lord.

And as for a king, what would he do for us?”

4 They have spoken words,

Swearing falsely in making a covenant.

Thus judgment springs up dlike hemlock in the furrows of the field.

5 The inhabitants of Samaria fear

Because of the ecalf 2of Beth Aven.

For its people mourn for it,

And 3its priests shriek for it—

Because its fglory has departed from it.

6 The idol also shall be carried to Assyria

As a present for King gJareb.

Ephraim shall receive shame,

And Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

7 As for Samaria, her king is cut off

Like a twig on the water.

8 Also the hhigh places of 4Aven, ithe sin of Israel,

Shall be destroyed.

The thorn and thistle shall grow on their altars;

jThey shall say to the mountains, “Cover us!”

And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

9 “O Israel, you have sinned from the days of kGibeah;

There they stood.

The lbattle in Gibeah against the children of 5iniquity

Did not 6overtake them.

10 When it is My desire, I will chasten them.

mPeoples shall be gathered against them

When I bind them 7for their two transgressions.

11 Ephraim is na trained heifer

That loves to thresh grain;

But I harnessed her fair neck,

I will make Ephraim 8pull a plow.

Judah shall plow;

Jacob shall break his clods.”

12 Sow for yourselves righteousness;

Reap in mercy;

oBreak up your fallow ground,

For it is time to seek the Lord,

Till He pcomes and rains righteousness on you.

13 qYou have plowed wickedness;

You have reaped iniquity.

You have eaten the fruit of lies,

Because you trusted in your own way,

In the multitude of your mighty men.

14 Therefore tumult shall arise among your people,

And all your fortresses shall be plundered

As Shalman plundered Beth Arbel in the day of battle—

A mother dashed in pieces upon her children.

15 Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,

Because of your great wickedness.

At dawn the king of Israel

Shall be cut off utterly.

God’s Continuing Love for Israel

11 “When Israel was a 1child, I loved him,

And out of Egypt aI called My bson.

2 2As they called them,

So they cwent 3from them;

They sacrificed to the Baals,

And burned incense to carved images.

3 “I dtaught Ephraim to walk,

Taking them by 4their arms;

But they did not know that eI healed them.

4 I drew them with 5gentle cords,

With bands of love,

And fI was to them as those who take the yoke from their 6neck.

gI stooped ...